Ben Caldwell News

Greenway Court Theatre announces its 2023-2024 season featuring two world premieres. Get all the details on the upcoming productions.

The Royal Exchange Theatre is delighted to announce the appointment of Roy Alexander Weise and Bryony Shanahan as their new joint Artistic Directors. Bryony and Roy will join Executive Director Stephen Freeman to complete the leadership team for this award-winning theatre. Together they will assume the role of Chief Executive.

It has been announced today that Sarah Frankcom is stepping down as Artistic Director of the Royal Exchange Theatre to take up a new post as Director of the prestigious drama school LAMDA. Sarah originally joined the Exchange as Literary Manager in 1998. In 2008 she was made Joint Artistic Director before taking up her current position as sole Artistic Director in 2014. Under her artistic leadership the Exchange has thrived and has been celebrated for its originality, innovation and continued support for the next generation of writers, actors, directors and theatre makers. Described as a 'Powerhouse' and recognised for its 'brave and bold' programming Sarah has shaped the Theatre into an award-winning Company that asks what a producing theatre can be for artists, audiences and communities today.

From Friday, August 17 through Thursday, August 30 BAMcinematek presents Say It Loud: Cinema in the Age of Black Power, 1966-1981. A cinematic companion to the Brooklyn Museum's exhibit Soul of a Nation: Art in the Age of Black Power, the series explores revolutionary and relevant records of a struggle that continues to this day. As black consciousness spread across the globe in the mid-1960s, it gave rise to a radical cinema that both reflected and worked to further the cause of African-American liberation. "These films are confrontational, experimental, and ripe for (re)discovery, powerfully evoking their own time, and unarguably speaking to today's fractious social and political climate," explains series programmer Ashley Clark.

On June 1, 2018 The SF Recovery Theatre will commemorate their 20th Annual Season with a new production of Reflections In Black 2018, a collection of scenes by African American writers, featuring an African American cast, which examines what it means to be Black in the United States. Being staged in the heart of the Tenderloin at PianoFight, 144 Taylor Street, Reflections In Black 2018 runs every Friday and Saturday at 7pm, from June 1 through June 16. Tickets are free to Tenderloin residents, or $20 for the general public and can be reserved at www.pianofight.com.

Ben Caldwell ('Prez,' 'A Force'), Kurt Lehner ('Gargoyles,' 'Marvel Action Hour'), Shawn Coss ('Cyanide and Happiness'), Steve Geiger ('Punisher,' 'Spider-Man'), Joe Rubinstein ('Wolverine,' 'Warlock'), James O'Barr ('The Crow'), Phil Ortiz ('The Simpsons,' 'Muppet Babies') and Tom Cook ('Masters of the Universe,' 'Smurfs') are among the leading comics artists and writers scheduled to attend Wizard World Comic Con Cleveland, March 2-4 at Huntington Convention Center of Cleveland. The weekend will feature many demonstrations and discussions at the Creative Stage. The event also marks the first since Wizard World's recent partnership with Sony Pictures to find the next generation of movies as well as to engage in a number of strategic initiatives. Artist Alley in Cleveland will also feature such notables as Clinton Hobart (Disney licensed fine artist), Martin Egeland ('Aquaman,' 'Alpha Flight,'), Carl Potts ('Alien Legion,' 'Venom'), Todd Johnson ('Tribe'), Larry Stroman ('The Uncanny X-Men,' 'Tribe'), Thom Zahler ('My Little Pony,' 'Ultimate Spider-Man'), Brian Shearer ('IDW,' 'GI Joe'), John Sloboda ('Star Wars,' 'The Walking Dead'), Victor Dandridge ('The Samaritan,' 'The Trouble w/Love') and many others. Wizard World Comic Con Cleveland will also feature non-stop live entertainment, gaming, exclusive Q&A sessions with top celebrities, a dedicated kids zone and more. Wizard World Comic Con events bring together thousands of fans of all ages to celebrate the best in pop culture: movies, television, gaming, live entertainment, comics, sci-fi, graphic novels, toys, original art, collectibles, contests and more. The third event scheduled on the 2018 Wizard World calendar, Cleveland show hours are Friday, March 2, 4-9 p.m.; Saturday, March 3, 10 a.m.-7 p.m.; Sunday, March 4, 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Kids 10 and under are admitted free with paid adult. Wizard World Comic Con Cleveland is also the place for cosplay, with fans young and old showing off their best costumes throughout the event. Fans dressed as every imaginable character - and some never before dreamed - will roam the convention floor and participate in the famed Wizard World Costume Contest on Saturday evening. For more on the 2018 Wizard World Cleveland, visit http://wizd.me/ClevelandPR. About Wizard World (OTCBB: WIZD) Wizard World, Inc. (www.wizardworld.com) produces comic, gaming and pop culture conventions across North America that celebrate the best in pop culture: movies, television, gaming, live entertainment, tech, comics, sci-fi, graphic novels, toys, original art, collectibles, contests and more. A first-class lineup of topical programming and entertainment takes place at each event, with celebrity Q&A's, comics-themed sessions, costume contests, movie screenings, evening parties and more. Wizard World has also teamed with Sony Pictures Entertainment to find the next generation of movies as well as to engage in a number of strategic initiatives. Additional initiatives may include an augmented touring schedule of Wizard World shows, fixed-site installations, curated e-commerce, and the production and distribution of content both in the U.S. and internationally. Fans can interact with Wizard World at www.wizardworld.com and on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram and other social media services.

As summer decides on whether to stick around or not, American Repertory Theater of WNY will come out of the company's season hiatus with one of the first events of the 2017-18 season. August will feature a two-evening stage reading of Mark Humphrey's AN INQUIRY INTO THE FATE OF THE U.S.S. PEQUOD at the company's 330 Amherst location. The reading will feature Buffalo actor Stan Klimecko and the return on Jack Hunter as he will share his directorial eye with the project. .

American Repertory Theater of WNY will roll out the company's eleventh season with an artistic direction emphasizing three productions by Western New York playwrights, presenting a contemporary comedic adaptation on a dramatic classic bore, and bringing a legendary rock-opera to ART/WNY's stage.

Get your technicolored lederhosen ready for an evening to laugh away those red, white and blues! Continuing toApril 1st is Steve Martin's hilarious THE UNDERPANTS. Directed by Artie Award winning director Jeffrey Coyle (FLOYD COLLINS & BLOODY BLOODY ANDREW JACKSON), this tale of bloomers, royalty, sausage and German foreplay is guaranteed to make you laugh loudly, try to repressed a laugh that come out as a rambunctious snort, or giggle like a like schoolgirl. Tickets are $20 GA, $15 Students & Military Veterans. Thursday features a $10 GA ticket price throughout the run.

In a time when America needs a good laugh, American Repertory Theater of WNY will present Steve Martins hysterical adaptation of the 1910 German farce DIE HOSE by playwright Carl Sternheim, entitled THE UNDERPANTS. Artie Award winning director Jeffrey Coyle (FLOYD COLLINS; BLOODY BLOODY ANDREW JACKSON) returns to ART/WNY to oversee this romp. 

Coming off a winter hiatus, the American Repertory Theater of WNY continues the celebration of the company's tenth season and the second-half of the 2016-17 season with renowned comic actor and author of PICASSO AT LAPIN AGILE, Steve Martin's wild satire adaptation of the classic 1910 German farce DIE HOSE by the playwright Carl Sternheim.

A great week of general auditions and callbacks for the 2016-17 season with 60+ talented individuals attending the two-night and three days of callbacks seeking to fill roles for all four ART/WNY productions. Maura Nolan, director for Halley Fieffer's HOW TO MAKE FRIENDS AND THEN KILL THEM, Jeffrey Coyle, director for Steve Martin's THE UNDERPANTS, Matthew LaChiusa, director for A BEHANDING IN SPOKANE and alongside Billy Horn, musical director for AMERICAN IDIOT, had the difficult decision to chose from all those who attended. Once the dust settled, two of the four shows have been fully cast with the other two in the process of finalizing cast lists.

Manchester International Festival today announces the appointment of Fiona Gasper as its new Executive Director. Currently Executive Director at the Royal Exchange Theatre, Fiona will take over from MIF's current Executive Director Jim Forrester in March 2016.

Stephen Sondheim's A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC elegantly opened the Irish Classical Theatre's 25th season.

Deadline writes that Mira Sorvino will play a recurring role on CBS's STALKER.

On this week's THE TALK, Dylan McDermott and Maggie Q discussed their show "Stalker" and spill on what it's like working together.

CBS FALL PREVIEW, hosted by the voice of CBS Sports and Lead NFL Play-By-Play Announcer Jim Nantz, is a primetime special highlighting the Network's addition of THURSDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL and its five new fall series.

CBS FALL PREVIEW, hosted by the voice of CBS Sports and Lead NFL Play-By-Play Announcer Jim Nantz, is a primetime special highlighting the Network's addition of THURSDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL and its five new fall series.

Woodie King Jr's New Federal Theatre kicks off its 44th season with 'The Ed Bullins Project' - two revivals from his 'Twentieth Century Cycle of Plays' - In The Wine Time and The Fabulous Miss Marie. Bullins, winner of the prestigious NY Drama Critics' Circle Award and OBIE Award for The Taking of Miss Janie, has greatly influenced American theatre, especially Black theatre. His work, characterized by disdain for ineffective political rhetoric as a substitute for action, most often examines the lives of Black people in the inner city. In 1968, Clive Barnes, writing in the New York Times called Bullins 'a welcome addition to the ranks of New York playwrights.' Four years later, Barnes added 'Bullins writes the way Charlie Parker played: It is all so easy and effortless. It sounds improvised, and yet it doesn't sound improvised, simply because it is the improvisation of formality.' Today, Bullins is regarded as a seminal force in the American theater.